Quick Shots: LeBron James won’t ever match Michael Jordan

Sunday

Jun 16, 2013 at 12:01 AMJun 16, 2013 at 3:04 PM

No one, not even Michael Jordan or Wilt Chamberlain, ever had more basketball talent than LeBron James. But no matter how many titles James may eventually win, he’ll never climb higher than No. 2 on the all-time greatest list.

Matt Trowbridge

No one, not even Michael Jordan or Wilt Chamberlain, ever had more basketball talent than LeBron James. But no matter how many titles James may eventually win, he’ll never climb higher than No. 2 on the all-time greatest list.

Jordan wins by will, not talent. No one ever wanted to win as desperately as Jordan. That made him a boor at his Hall of Fame induction, but practically indomitable on the basketball court. You never know what LeBron will do in any game. You ALWAYS knew what Jordan would do.

LeBron’s big game Thursday snapped a string of three straight games with fewer than 20 points and was his first time in nine games he shot over 50 percent. Jordan scored fewer than 20 points six times in 179 playoff games. LeBron has done so six times in 10 Finals games alone against the Spurs and Mavs.

Another draft miss
Offensive linemen are supposed to be the safest first-round NFL draft picks. Not for the Bears. Trading Gabe Carimi for a sixth-round draft pick emphasizes once again how bad Chicago has been at identifying blockers, going 0-for-4 in the first round the last 30 years.

Stan Thomas, Marc Colombo, Chris Williams and Carimi did nothing to help the Bears. If this year’s No. 1, Kyle Long, works out, he’ll be the first No. 1 pick on the offensive line to do so since Jim Covert in 1983.

Just wondering
Why do so many critics dismiss eight-time French Open champ Rafael Nadal as a clay-court specialist, but no one says seven-time Wimbledon champs Roger Federer and Pete Sampras thrived especially on grass.

By the way, Nadal is 20-6 vs. Federer outdoors. Federer has a 4-0 edge indoors, but indoors is the one surface that no Grand Slams are played on.

Woodson’s home
Since Green Bay didn’t want Charles Woodson any more, a return to Oakland was a nice career-ending touch. But how could the Broncos, his No. 2 choice, let him get away after last year’s playoff fiasco against the Ravens?

And how could the Bears, in desperate need of safeties for a half-decade, not join the bidding?